Education experts and private boarding schools have demanded that the government bar foreign schools from holding education fairs in the country to attract Nepali students.

Stating that the issue should be addressed through a policy-level decision, educationist Mana Prasad Wagle said the government should not allow foreign schools to conduct education fairs, which had been increasing the flow of Nepali students to foreign countries.

Educationist Dhananjaya Sharma said students below the age of 18 years should not be allowed to study in a foreign country. “Children are being sent to foreign schools not because the quality of education in the country is bad. The trend has been discouraging private schools in the country,” he said.

He added that even parents who worked as teachers preferred to send their children to foreign schools. “We need to change this trend,” he added.

Private and Boarding School Organisation Nepal and National Private and Boarding School Organisation Nepal claimed that while the government allowed foreign schools to hold education fairs every year, boarding schools were even restricted from making advertisements for new admissions.

Gita Rana, vice-president of NPABSON, said the government had provided less than a week to private schools in the country to make advertisements, while foreign schools were free to conduct education fair every year.

“We have drawn the attention of the Ministry of Education towards the issue,” said PABSON spokesperson Rajendra Baniya.

A version of this article appears in print on January 31, 2018 of The Himalayan Times.